Elise+Kalat


 * SUMMARY: Elise Kalat, age 22, died February 12, 1987, when she was improperly resuscitated at a Planned Parenthood in Massachusetts. **

Elise Abigail Kalat was 22 years old, a clerk in a photography studio, when she underwent a "therapeutic" abortion at Planned Parenthood of Massachusetts on February 10, 1987.

Elise began having asthma symptoms in the recovery room. Staff helped her twice to use her inhaler, then she stopped breathing. Staff placed her on the floor and began CPR while awaiting an ambulance.

The EMTs arrived to find one nurse performing CPR by pressing on Elise's abdomen rather than her sternum and another nurse only managing to inflate Elise's cheeks, not her lungs, with the ambu-bag. The doctor was under the impression that CPR was effective because he was checking for a pulse in the wrong place. Nobody had initiated professional level resuscitation procedures such as intubating the patient, defibrillating her, monitoring her cardiac signs on EKG, or administering cardiac medications.

Elise was resuscitated at the hospital, but due to improperly performed CPR she had suffered devastating brain injury. Her condition continued to deteriorate and she died on February 12.

Source: Massachusetts Certificate of Death #22886 Court documents and statements by EMTs





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